Tag Archives: catholicism

Coming from London where religion, when visible, tends to be multi faith, I’m struck by the abundance of Catholic imagery and iconography when visiting Italy, and how this imagery coexists with other signs and visual expression. As a young teenager I developed a love of art history and associated images of the Madonna as something I would see in books, galleries and museums rather than in situ.

Here are some pictures I took in Lecce the other week:

The picture below is a section of a wall in a local restaurant – :

A wooden cheese board at a tourist shop:

Detail of chalk street art on gravelly road:

I liked the design of the nuns’ letterbox, with the word SUORE engraved in capitals:

A wall with graffiti and votive shrine:

Graffiti proclaiming the city space as antifascist juxtaposed with chalk representation of the local Saint Orontius of Lecce, known in Italian as Sant’Oronzo:

In this security booth the guards had cut both square notebook paper and image of Christ in clear plastic containers:

A few weeks ago I visited Rome after a gap of many years. I had wanted to revisit for a while, especially after seeing contemporary films set in Rome by several of my favourite Italian directors: Nanni Moretti, Gianni di Grigorio and Paolo Sorrentino.

I was immediately struck by the architecture and monumentality of Rome, but also the way fashion and the contemporary coexist with historic buildings. I love the terracotta tones of the Roman facades:

Icons of 20th and 21st century western masculinity are added to the visual mix:

Here are some images I took of Catholic religious iconography: in the image below religious figurines are juxtaposed with the reflected facade of a church.

The Pope and Jesus both depicted with raised right hands – the salutation, blessing, waving gesture further extending the notion of connected holiness.

A decorated tram on Via Flaminia; I am not entirely sure what the advert is about but I think it promotes the Pope’s relationship with Jordan in the Middle East. I like the illusory quality; the silhouette of the standing tram passenger appears connected to architectural backdrop of the advert.

Here is a contemporary artwork on the theme of Adam and Eve by street artist Mr.Minimal

Here are some pictures I took around the area of the Colosseum. The first three images feature graffiti and text: Below, No Stopping signs with a chalk I love you:

An obscured view of The Colosseum with stickers and graffiti:

There is restoration taking place at the site and I like the fake illusionistic arches that show the intended reconstruction: